Conduit adapters are commonly used to protect electrical cables that enter or exit an electrical connector assembly. In particular the cables are protected from environmental influences, such as temperature, dust, moisture and/or the like. Still further conduit adapters can provide strain relief functionality and/or protect the cables from unallowed cable bending and thus prevent cable damages.
Conduit adapters can provide connecting means between cable channels, and in particular flexible cable channels and electrical connector assemblies. Conduit adapters are for example widely used in automobile applications, industrial applications and/or consumer electronic applications.
Conduit adapter systems known in the art typically include two separate parts that can be connected together to form the conduit adapter around the cable to be protected. Providing a two-part adapter allows the conduit adapter to be installed after the installation of the connector and the respective cable. However, in an industrial manufacturing process two separate parts are undesired, since the number of individual parts increases the complexity of the manufacturing process and in particular the supply process of the parts.
Therefore, the single parts of known conduit adapters are usually connected via a hinge, so that only one physical part has to be handled in the supply process. Known hinges are orientated at a longitudinal axis at the sides of the parts of the conduit adapter. This allows the parts to be rotated around an axis parallel to the cables of the electrical connector assembly, when the parts shall be connected. However, providing a hinge at the longitudinal axis, i.e. at the sides of the parts is disadvantageous, since there is less space to provide fixing means. Thus the fixing means on the hinge-side have to be designed smaller and therefore weaker, than the fixing means on the non-hinge-side of a conventional conduit adapter.
Still further, the connection between electrical connector system and conduit adapter is typically achieved by clamping or engaging the electrical conductor system when the two parts of the conduit adapter are connected. Thus, in order to finally mount the conduit adapter three parts, namely two conduit adapter parts and the electrical connector, have to be handled.
The object of the present invention is to provide conduit adapter systems and a method to assemble the conduit adapter systems, which overcomes the problems and drawbacks described above.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.